government jobs or places in institu-
tions of higher learning, which admit
people from disadvantaged communi-
ties under much lower standards than
those for the general public. Those
groups who qualify for such reservations
are generally referred to as Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes, after the
“schedule” or official government list on
which the names of these groups
appear. The Scheduled Castes are low-
status casteHindus, who in earlier times
would have been called untouchables,
while the Scheduled Tribes are aborigi-
nal peoples (adivasis), who mainly live
in central India.
Although the reservations policy has
been implemented for some time, it
remains a continual source of contro-
versy. Proponents claim that it is moving
socially disadvantaged people into
the mainstream of Indian life and help-
ing to correct centuries of injustice.
Opponents decry the fact that less-
qualified people are being deliberately
chosen, making a mockery of the notion
of merit. Critics also argue that the peo-
ple who benefit the most from such poli-
cies are the best-off members of such
communities—the so-called creamy
layer, designating their position at the
top—whereas the truly disadvantaged
remain in the same positions as they
have always been. Aside from the philo-
sophical debates about this policy, it has
had a recognizable impact on people’s
livelihoods. Such reservations have
made competition even more ferocious
for the remaining spots, and made
reservations a politically volatile issue.
Given the benefits derived from reserva-
tions, there has also been considerable
lobbying to include other, less-disad-
vantaged groups under its rubric, as a
way to spread benefits to other sectors
of Indian society.
Rg Veda
The oldest and most important of the
four Vedas, which are themselves the
most ancient and authoritative Hindu
religious texts. The Rg Veda is a group of
1,028 hymns collected in ten books.
Judging by their content, the hymns
were clearly composed over a long period
of time, but the actual dates are the sub-
ject of sharp disagreement. Traditional
Hindus assert that the Vedas were not
composed either by God or by human
beings but, rather, simply heard by
ancient sages through their advanced
powers of perception, and then trans-
mitted orally from generation to gener-
ation. Because of their origin, the Vedas
thus belong to the class of religious texts
known as shruti (“heard”). Scholarly
consensus maintains that the Vedas
were begun in the earlier part of the
second millennium B.C.E., perhaps
1800–1500 B.C.E., and were finished
somewhere around the end of the
second millennium B.C.E., perhaps
1200–900. All these dates are highly
speculative, since the hymns themselves
have no internal evidence to allow pre-
cise dating, which has instead been
based primarily on a comparative study
of changes in the language of certain
Vedas. Some of the hymns, for example,
are thought to have been created rela-
tively later than others, both because
their language is less archaic and closer
to classical Sanskritand because the
locations mentioned in them reflect a
broader geographical area.
Most of the hymns in the Rg Veda are
addressed to a particular deity. The pri-
mary deities are Indra, Agni, and Soma,
although Varunais prominent in the
earliest hymns. It is generally accepted
that the hymns were chanted at sacri-
fices as a way to invoke these deities.
Evidence from the hymns themselves
describes these sacrifices as large public
rites, usually involving the slaughter of
animals, which were burned on a sacri-
ficial fire, and the preparation and con-
sumption of the mysterious beverage
soma. In this context, the Vedic hymns
reflect a body of sacred learning known
to only a small group of religious spe-
cialists. Accordingly, these hymns were
never meant for universal public dis-
semination, since all except twice-born
men were forbidden to hear them.Rg Veda